Green Fleet

NYC to Use Domestically Produced Renewable Diesel

The city of will use renewable diesel to fuel its refuse trucks. Photo via Jason Lawrence/Flickr

Renewable diesel is made almost exclusively of plants and animal fats, with just 1% of its contents derived from petroleum. The city is getting this fuel domestically produced by Renewable Energy Group and distributed by Sprague Energy. It will be used in large vehicles such as sanitation trucks.

Renewable diesel costs $1.65 more per gallon than biodiesel, which the city was using on almost all its trucks.

Renewable diesel will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% compared to traditional petroleum-based diesel. This will help the city toward Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

“NYC blends biodiesel in all fleet fuel and heating oil for municipal operations and has over 12 years of practical experience with biofuels,” said Keith Kerman, DCAS deputy commissioner and NYC chief fleet officer. “Renewable diesel is an exciting next step which holds the prospect of completely replacing regular diesel with no impact to operations.”

New York City will be one of the first fleets to use renewable diesel in the Northeast. Renewable diesel use for public fleets is currently concentrated in the West Coast, including adoption by the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego in California and the Eugene Water & Electric Board in Oregon.